Question: Hello. I have some difficultly with the pronouns "kam

These are the “exclusive we” forms. They do not include the person being spoken to. There’s no direct equivalent in English. For example:
A son and daughter might say to their parents:
“Pupunta kami sa mall.” = We will be going to the mall.
...by using “kami” it’s clear that the parents aren’t also going to the mall.If you used the other “we,” the “inclusive we:”
“Pupunta tayo sa mall.” = We will be going to the mall.
...by using “tayo” they would be saying that the parents (the people being spoken to) are included as going to the mall, too.It might be helpful to privately translate the “exclusive we” as “we only” or “us only,” and to translate the “inclusive we” as “we all.”Ex: “We all are going to the mall.” vs. “We only (not you) are going to the mall.”Hope that helps!

May kotse kami. We have a car.
Ito ang kotse namin. This is our car.

@jkos Yezzzzzzzzzzzz! I like WE (all) and US (only)...self documenting rather than trying to remember exclusive/inclusive and deciper relative to who...#FAIL! Its Tagalog not CIA code.Also (T)ayo na(T)in sa a(T)invs Ka(M)i Na(M)in sa a(M)inConnect related ideas. 1 x 1 #Fail!

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Kami - we, excluding the listener/person being spoken to.Tayo - we, including the listener/person being spoken to

This is one of my favourite questions to ask Filipinos. Surprisingly few can actually explain what the difference is. I usually get answers like one is we and the other is us. Of course they use the two words correctly but it is so instinctive that they don't need to think about the difference.

I remember it like "kami" = me, not you! and "tayo" = you too!

@JohnD I always hear pareho na pareho....same same. And if pressed...I get deep tagalog poh!Many schools use classic literature texts such as "Ibong Ardana" with just minimal grammar notes. Teachers primarily supplement with usage notes that only get reduced to each student's yellow pad. Of course, that process leaves scant reliable reference materials. Half of the young students I interact with claim to find Tagalog boring. I find "boring" hard to believe.